REU Site: Biological Materials and Processes (BioMaP)

This renewal three-year REU Site: Biological Materials and Processes (BioMaP) is hosted by Iowa State University. The focus of research is the cross-disciplinary areas of biological materials and biological processes within chemical and biological engineering. Ten participants each year will engage in ten-week summer research where they investigate the interface between biology and the design of materials with unique properties and the fundamental biological processes.

Undergraduates will engage in cutting edge research in the areas of drug delivery, computational design of biomolecules, probiotics, gene editing, biomanufacturing and sustainable polymers. Students will participate in cohort activities such as short courses, lab meetings, seminars, and workshops. At the end of the program, REU students will present at a campus-wide poster symposium and will be encouraged to present their work at national meetings or in published articles.

This project will focus on a new effort called Ideas to Impact, which features professional development activities that engage students on how to use the science and engineering that they are practicing for the good of society. Specifically, students will learn: communicating scientific results effectively (Data Analysis and Presentation), translating a research idea into intellectual property (Technology Transfer), and leveraging the results of research into a business opportunity (Entrepreneurship and Project Management).

This renewal three-year REU Site: Biological Materials and Processes (BioMaP) is hosted by Iowa State University. The focus of research is the cross-disciplinary areas of biological materials and biological processes within chemical and biological engineering. Ten participants each year will study the interface between biology and materials (i.e., the design of robust materials with unique properties, activation of

immune cells, the migratory behavior of cells, and the dynamic behavior of aptamers) and biological processes (i.e., processes critical to the future of the chemical industry, microbial robustness, probiotic engineering, and modeling photobioreactors). The REU students will be active members of multidisciplinary groups and will interact with faculty, post-docs, and graduate students.

Students will participate in cohort activities such as short courses, lab meetings, seminars, and workshops. At the end of the program, REU students will present at a campus-wide poster symposium and will be encouraged to present their work at national meetings or in published articles. Professional social media will be used to develop networks across cohorts and research projects to enhance BioMaP’s long-term impact on participants, especially underrepresented groups.

Our Ideas to Impact framework will teach students about technology transfer and entrepreneurship. The experience of working in an intensive research environment, where students will progress from dependent to independent contributors will enable the students to leave the program with life-long learning skills that will impact their contributions to science and engineering and to society.

This project is jointly funded by the EEC REU and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCOR).

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.